WW1 battlefields and Waterloo

Hi,

Great trip you have planned for the grandsons. When you go from Caen or Bayeux to Paris, you'll have change train stations in order to continue to Amiens. Coming from Caen/Bayeux you're stopping at Gare St Lazare. From St Lazare take the Metro or bus #26 to Gare du Nord. From Gare du Nord to Amiens is a direct shot on the regional (TER) train. Assuming you leave Caen/ Bayeaux in the morning, you'll get to Amiens by early evening, assuming you stop for lunch at St Lazare or Nord. I've taken these routes but not on the same trip. Or, if you prefer, you can spend the night in Paris, then leave for Amiens in the morning. Amiens was crucial in 1914 as well as 1918.

If you have a rental car for Waterloo, that's the best of all. You'll be able to a lot more places connected with that momentous event...La Cateau, Plancenoit, Ligny, Charleroi (remember Napoleon crossed the Sambre at Charleroi).

The best way to see the various sites you've mentioned is with a car. With a car I would avoid going back into Paris. From Normandy to Waterloo is quite a distance, with the western front stretching from the Swiss border near Basel to the coast in Belgium. The main UK/Commonwealth bit was the area from Paris north, as you've mentioned the Australian grandson so that is what I am basing the recommendations on.

My suggestion is staying in the areas according to your budget for a couple of nights each, with a car. Remembering that if you want to see Waterloo/Ypres etc you will be crossing the border into Belgium.

I think you can consider this: Stay in Arras for doing daytrips to visit Amiens (1 hour drive) and the Somme. And for your visit to Waterloo you will need to drive about 2 hours. From there you can also do a daytrip to Ypres if it´s of interest too, driving time 1½ hour.

Arras is a nice place to stay and has a direct TGV connection with CDG and Gare du Nord in Paris. The best mode of transport for touring battlefields remains indeed a car unless you like to book organized tours. You can pick up your rental car at an agency near the railway station in Arras and if you fly home from CDG you can drop off there.

If you decide to do the whole trip with a hire car, be warned that some companies may charge punitive fees to return a car in a different country to where you hired it, and if necessary plan your itinerary accordingly.

Interesting...4 Bras was the same day as Ligny. What of the monuments at Placenoit, how many and what did they show? On whose side? What about monuments or plaques at La Belle Alliance? In Prussian-German historiography the battle on 18 June is called that.

If there is nothing to show of Napoleon at Charleroi, at least you're there on the bridge over the Sambre, just like Hougomount or Amiens sur Siomme in 1914.

http://www.viamichelin.com/ can help you plan car travel, estimating gas costs, highway tolls etc. Michelin is also famous for its restaurant reviews. To see what accommodation is available along the way, try any of the big booking sites: www.booking.com ; www.hotels.com ; www.priceline.com ; www.expedia.com ; or lots of others associated with airline booking. To go back to the WW2 segment, taking a guided tour of the Normandy campaign out of Bayeux or the peace museum in Caen will be costly but the information and perspectives will be worth it. The remnants of the invasion, and the cemeteries, can be seen on you own but the real texture of the experience requires trained historical discussion.

Thanks for the information, woinparis. I 've been to the farmhous, the Lion's Mount and Hougomount years ago, 1984, time to see it again. but Plancenoit, La Cateau, La Belle Alliance, Wavre etc I did not get to see. What of the Prussian monuments? I'm surprised that nothing in Charleroi tells of Napoleon crossing the Sambre unlike that pertaining to Blücher crossing the Middle Rhine, where there is a memorial plaque (Gedenkstein) in Bacharach indicating that was the place. Part of the experience is just being there, say at La Cateau.

@ woinparis....thanks for the information. I assume that monument is on the Waterloo field itself.

There is also one in Berlin, ie, in Berlin-Kreuzberg in the Viktoria-Luisen Park, finally saw it in 2007. That Prussian Monument is called the " Freiheitsdenkmal" Like the ones at Waterloo, this one is also in Prussian black listing the major engagements and battles in date order from 1813 to 1815 that led to the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. But that word is not used but "Belle Alliance" for the event of 18 June. You'll notice the events are "rigged." None of the set-backs, defeats suffered by the Prussians from 1813-15 is listed.